“Can we have a wave of honest confession and admit that with all the fund raising and hoopla in evangelism, we have not
touched the strongholds of iniquity?”
—Leonard Ravenhill
“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,
but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
—Proverbs 28:13
“Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden
that will not be known.”
—Luke 12:2
In 2017, a church invited me to hold one of our From Porn to Grace conferences on a Saturday and give the morning message at their Sunday service the next day.
They had no problem with me talking about sex at the conference on Saturday, but closed the door on that topic for their Sunday morning service. Prior to my arrival, the senior pastor set up a phone call with me. “We don’t talk about sex Sunday mornings,” he said. “What you did at the conference is fine, but just talk about grace on Sunday. And we really don’t want words like masturbation used from the pulpit.” Since I was their guest, I submitted without disagreement.
The Saturday conference went well. Early Sunday morning, my spirit was being provoked that I was to speak about sex and pornography that morning. In a day when many of God’s people are struggling with sexual sin, it’s critical that we talk openly about it at church. I knew I couldn’t force that door open, so I prayed and asked God if He would.
As soon as I walked into the church, the senior pastor approached me and said, “You know what? Feel free to speak on whatever God gives you.” Since the message I’d prepared was on grace, I told him I needed a quiet place alone to pray and get God’s heart for the message while their worship time was going on. It turned out to be a powerful morning. As I spoke about sexual brokenness and challenged their flock to get help, the presence of God descended on the room in power. Men and women, some in tears, were asking for help. My message was only around 20 minutes; it’s not the length of the message that counts, but the power of the Holy Spirit.
In 2006, Blazing Grace ran a six-month billboard campaign in Colorado Springs on freedom from pornography. The message in bold, red letters read, “Struggling with Porn? You’re Not Alone. So Are Half the Men in Church.” The response we received was overwhelmingly positive. People asked for help and expressed appreciation for exposing a topic that is often hidden.
Fast forward 12 years. In the summer of 2018, we ran another billboard campaign for three months with the same words except for one change—“half” was now “66%.” This time it was like sticking my hand in a hornet’s nest. Most of the messages and phone calls we received were from furious Christian parents who claimed we were forcing them to tell their nine-year-old child what porn meant. Years of being indoctrinated with messages like “safe for the whole family,” “positive and encouraging,” and attending churches that avoid topics like sex or pornography had deceived parents into believing the idea that their homes, churches, and schools were safe zones. Thus, they felt they needed to shut down the messages on sex . . . or try to. Kids are getting smartphones as early as age six; most men who come to us for help got hooked on porn when they were about eight years old. It’s funny how those Christian parents wouldn’t complain to a grocery store manager about their magazine racks that display covers of near-naked women.
In 2017, I spoke at another conference on freedom from porn and sex addiction in a different city. After the message, I opened it up for questions from the audience. A pastor immediately stood up and said, “Isn’t it true that we need only to talk about sex once in church, and then we don’t need to bring it up again because the issue is dealt with?” I responded without hesitation, “No! You can’t justify that in Scripture. Jesus busted two churches in Revelations 2 and 3 for not equipping their people to be overcomers when it came to sexual sin. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul confronted the church of Corinth over the sexual sin of one man. Paul would have freaked out if he came today and saw that two-thirds of Christian men and 30% of women are viewing pornography!”
The pastor sat down quietly. To my surprise, the audience started clapping. I found out later that he was the head pastor of the entire district of that city. People were afraid of him to the point that he was rarely questioned.
In 2018, to promote one of our From Porn to Grace conferences in the United States, we contacted a national Christian radio station whose marketing slogan is “Positive and Encouraging” and requested a PSA (public service announcement). They gave us the PSA but eliminated the word porn, so the event was described as a “conference for those who want help with adultery.”
In 2018, the senior pastor of a seeker-friendly mega-church of 20,000 resigned after reports surfaced that he had sexually harassed and assaulted women in his church. I received a phone call from a member of that church asking what we could do to help them with recovery from porn addiction. He told me their church’s only resource for help in this area was a Celebrate Recovery group (a one-size-fits-all, 12-step group for all issues) and that he and another man were the only ones who attended with porn problems—just two men out of a church of 20,000. He told me they asked the church if they could set up a group for men only who struggle with porn. They were moving forward to set up the group when he suddenly received an email from the church informing him that the group “wouldn’t be needed.” I offered to help him set up a conference, but never heard from him again.
In 2019, the Houston Chronicle published the findings of an investigation into the alleged sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches. They reported that 700 victims had been sexually abused by 380 Southern Baptist leaders and volunteers since 1998; 220 of them had been convicted, and 100 were still in prison at the time of publication.
The Christian Post wrote on the investigation.
More disturbing still, many of the victims accused other Southern Baptist leaders, including past presidents, of concealing the abuse. Some of those who were accused of sexual abuse and left their congregations were able to find jobs in other Southern Baptist churches. Many of the victims were kids when the abuse occurred, as young as 3. Most of the allegations are not news to the SBC, the report noted. Many had been investigated before, but the SBC failed to act, citing church autonomy as a hindrance to any meaningful reforms from the national organization.
Several years ago, the men’s ministry pastor of a church of 3,000 asked me to visit the church. At the meeting, he and another pastor told me that every marriage that came to them for help had porn involved and asked what my organization might offer to help. I suggested we put on a From Porn to Grace conference. They agreed and asked if I’d be willing to tape videos they could show to the congregation during their Sunday morning services to promote it. Game on.
Two weeks later, I received an email saying that there would be no videos. The church wasn’t going to promote the conference during their weekend services, and the most they would do was place posters in the men’s bathrooms if we’d be willing to print them. No other explanation was given. I emailed the senior pastor and invited him to visit our office, which was five minutes away. He did not reply. Out of a church of 3,000, only 85 showed up; most were not from that church.
Last year a man from a nationally recognized church of 4,000 contacted me. His church was well-known for its emphasis on doctrine and Bible teaching. He told me that church leadership had closed their support group for men who struggled with porn. They didn’t believe a long-term support group was needed. Later, the senior pastor of that church resigned amid reports that the elder board had created an abusive atmosphere.
Not long ago we produced a 30 Days of Prayer video series. For 30 days, we emailed a video every day to our email subscriber list. The response was overwhelmingly positive to the extent that several churches distributed them to their flocks. The day three video was about praying for the porn industry, for the salvation of all involved in the creation of those materials, and that God would shut that industry down. One woman whose church had been emailing the videos to their flock contacted me and said that the leadership of her church felt that praying for the porn industry wasn’t appropriate. If we did another video with a similar topic, they would stop sharing them with their flock.
Earlier this year, we held a From Porn to Grace conference in California. We contacted four Christian radio stations in the area and asked if we could pay for an ad campaign to promote the conference. Not one responded.
The stories in this chapter are just a small sample of what I could tell. We receive emails consistently from men and women who tell us their churches ignore, avoid, or barely touch the topics of sex and pornography from the pulpit. We also hear plenty of stories of spiritual abuse where the wife is blamed for the husband’s porn problem. Some have shared that they were asked to leave when they tried to get help at their church.
Many churches are cooperating with Satan in the Great Cover-Up. Our spiritual enemy has a foothold at the top and is influencing the leadership of many churches. You can’t read Scripture without seeing the imperative to confront and equip God’s people to overcome sexual sin; there are severe consequences for those who don’t.
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
—1 Corinthians 5:1–13
Paul told the church at Corinth to remove this man, a professed believer, from the church and deliver him to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. That should send shivers down our spine, especially when we look at how widespread sexual sin is in the church today.
No church or believer that hides sexual sin can live a life that counts for eternity, nor can they have a spiritual awakening. We must understand the following:
- Avoiding or ignoring the topics of pornography and other forms of sexual sin keeps God’s people in bondage.
- Briefly touching on the topics of sexual sin isn’t enough. God’s people must be equipped to be overcomers.
- Intentionally hiding or covering up sexual or other forms of abuse where someone was hurt is cooperating with the enemy’s battle plans against us, just as David attempted to cover up his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband.
- A Christian in bondage to sexual sin is choked with self-absorption; they are lukewarm and corrupt and will eventually come to a crisis of faith if they don’t break free. No man or woman in such a place, including those in leadership positions, can live their life for eternity. The spouses of those in bondage have their own battles to face and face an extended healing process. The marriage and the family are at risk.
- As we saw in 1 Corinthians 5, the core reason that churches participate in the Great Cover-Up is arrogance—pride on rampage. They don’t mourn for the sexually broken; their liturgy, doctrine, and gifting is sufficient. Aren’t their building and attendance proof of God’s approval? But look at John 6 where Jesus thinned the crowds. Numbers don’t mean depth.
We must expose, challenge, and confront the Great Cover-Up and the arrogance that drives it as I did when I unwittingly confronted the pastor during the question-and-answer session at the conference. There’s too much at stake and too many lives are being destroyed to allow this to go on any longer. We must speak up and go to war for the hurting. This does not mean going on a witch hunt, but when God places us in a battle, we don’t back down. We speak the truth with respect and challenge those who are defending the status quo with the biblical action steps that need to be taken. Remember that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the army of darkness that has influenced the church (Eph. 6:12). There are many among us who are suffering and need healing. Our mission is to set captives free (Isa. 61). Galatians 6:1 shows how we approach those who want help:
“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”
I encourage you to recognize the desperate need for every Christian to step into the battle and make a difference. Today you can begin by praying and asking God to tear down the stronghold Satan has in the church and open His people’s eyes to the action steps He wants them to take. Pray for pastors everywhere. They have a heavy load and need prayer during these dark times. It’s time to go to war.
About the Great Cover-up
The content above was a chapter from my book The Way of the Rogue Christian: Living a Life that Counts for Eternity, published in 2022. The Great Cover-up continues today, as the ongoing flood of daily news articles attests and the feedback we receive from those who come to us for help.
If you’d like to make an impact consider hosting a From Porn to Grace conference at your church or organization. In the times we’re in and with masses who are suffering, it’s desperately needed. This is for anyone from any country.
